Image Forming Apparatus, Image Forming System, Image Forming System Control Method, and Program

1. A system comprising: a first image forming apparatus; and a second image forming apparatus, wherein the first image forming apparatus comprises: a first control unit; a first image forming unit; a first receiving unit configured to receive data; and a transferring unit configured to transfer the data received by the first receiving unit to the second image forming apparatus, wherein the second image forming apparatus comprises: a second receiving unit configured to receive the data transferred from the first image forming apparatus; a second image forming unit configured to perform image forming based on the data received by the second receiving unit; and a second control unit configured to perform notification to the first image forming apparatus on the basis that it is determined that a remaining amount of toner used by the second image forming unit for performing the image forming is less than a predetermined value, and wherein the first control unit controls the first image forming unit to perform the image forming based on the data received by the first receiving unit in response to reception of the notification from the second image forming apparatus.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the remaining amount of toner used by the second image forming unit for performing the image forming is less than the predetermined value, the second control unit performs the notification as a response to a communication establishment request received from the first image forming apparatus, and wherein, in response to reception of the notification from the second image forming apparatus, the first control unit controls the first image forming unit to perform the image forming based on the data received by the first receiving unit without the transferring of the data by the transferring unit.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the remaining amount of toner used by the second image forming unit for performing the image forming is less than the predetermined value, the second control unit performs the notification as a response to the transferring of the data from the first image forming apparatus, and wherein, in response to reception of the notification from the second image forming apparatus, the first control unit stops the transferring of the data by the transferring unit and controls the first image forming unit to perform the image forming based on the data received by the first receiving unit.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first image forming apparatus further comprises a storage unit configured to store the data received by the first receiving unit, and wherein, in response to reception of the notification from the second image forming apparatus, the first control unit controls the first image forming unit to perform the image forming based on the data stored in the storage unit.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the first image forming apparatus further comprises a deleting unit configured to delete the data stored in the storage unit after the transferring of the data by the transferring unit is completed.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein, in a case where the remaining amount of toner used by the second image forming unit for performing the image forming is less than the predetermined value, the second control unit performs the notification to the first image forming apparatus without performing of the image forming by the second image forming unit.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the second image forming unit is further configured to perform image forming based on data different from the data transferred from the first image forming apparatus, and wherein, even when the remaining amount of toner used by the second image forming unit for performing the image forming is less than the predetermined value, the second control unit controls the second image forming unit to perform image forming for the data different from the data transferred from the first image forming apparatus.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the data received by the first receiving unit is facsimile data.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the data transferred by the transferring unit is data converted from the facsimile data into e-mail data.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where data is received by the receiving unit, the first control unit determines whether to transfer the data to the second image forming apparatus or to perform printing based on the data in the first image forming apparatus.

11. A first image forming apparatus comprising: a first control unit; a first image forming unit; a first receiving unit configured to receive data; and a transferring unit configured to transfer the data received by the first receiving unit to a second image forming apparatus, wherein the second image forming apparatus comprises: a second receiving unit configured to receive the data transferred from the first image forming apparatus; a second image forming unit configured to perform image forming based on the data received by the second receiving unit; and a second control unit configured to perform notification to the first image forming apparatus on the basis that it is determined that a remaining amount of toner used by the second image forming unit for performing the image forming is less than a predetermined value, and wherein the first control unit controls the first image forming unit to perform the image forming based on the data received by the first receiving unit in response to reception of the notification from the second image forming apparatus.